Monday, October 10, 2011

Goodbye Bucharest - I'm Going to Really Miss You!

Dear Family and friends:

Hello! Happy Monday to y'all. Elder Lee here. How is everyone doing today? I hope well. I'm doing well. We found out transfers today and I am finally leaving Bucharest! Here's what's happening: I'm going to be serving in....Craiova! I'll be serving there with Elder Rasmussen. He is in the group right below Elder Jones. I don't know him. He'll be in his second transfer. he was trained there by Elder Pettit, so I'll be taking Elder Pettit's place. It was a pretty big surprise. I was not expecting to be going there. I thought I would go out somewhere in the west or Transylvania area. What I really would have liked to do is be a zone leader with Elder Schroedter in Arad. But, he's staying there with his same companion, Elder Schank. I don't know what to think. I'm really kinda stressed about leaving and adapting to somewhere different with different missionaries and members. It's something I haven't had to do for so long. I'm going to miss Bucharest immensely. I love this place! It's been one of the best summers of my life here! I will miss Elder Jones a lot. We've had so much fun together (also, living with Elder Bateman and Peterson). Those 2 finally moved out into their new apartment. Anyways, transfers are crazy. Elder Jones is staying here with Elder Awerkamp (he's one transfer ahead of Elder Jones). Elder Newton is going to be the new assistant to president! It will be fun to still see him around at interviews and zone conferences. He'll be a great AP. So yeah, what else to say? I hope I will grow to get used to and like Craiova.

Well, we had an alright week. Well, first of all, some cool news: we had 6 baptisms in the mission this last week. 2 of them were here in Mihai Bravu! On Saturday, we had a branch picnic and a baptismal ceremony for Elder Bateman and Peterson's investigator, Ionuti, and the sisters' investigator, Mihaela. It was awesome. 2 new members here in the branch! It's been a while since I've seen a baptism, and it was cool to see 2 in one day. There are about 16 baptismal dates throughout the whole mission. I saw that Craiova just had a baptism and 2 baptismal dates, so I guess it will be cool to go in and see how that goes. For about the whole week, it was kinda sunny and warm one last time. On Saturday after the baptisms, the weather became windy and cloudy and rainy. It became a lot colder just in a few hours. It's still the same today, not as wet though. I guess it's finally the fall weather coming. It's kinda depressing weather though. I really miss the hot summer weather and sunny days already. I hope it clears up soon.

We have still had a lack of investigators. We have about 3, but they are just not willing to meet up and go to church. It's been harder the past few days with the weather getting uglier, so we can't really go through parks anymore. Just gotta keep finding and having more faith and diligence. Levent came to the baptism! he just missed the actual baptising, but he still saw them bear testimony and stuff. He liked it. However, he didn't come to church. Church went well. It was testimony meeting. Lots of strong ones in this branch. After church, we went to Sora Gorzo's and ate a ton of good food, then Elder Jones and I made a last visit together to Sora Bobeanu. She's not feeling so well, but we were glad to share sacrament and a spiritual thought. I'll miss visiting her.

Well, that's about it. Things are changing. It's becoming colder fall weather, the transfer is done, I'm heading out to Craiova, and Sora Hansen is going home. I'll really miss everything about Buc. Sad day. I just hope to do my best in Craiova and never forget the awesome experiences I've had here in Mihai Bravu. Thanks mom and dad for the news and updates. I hope BYU will beat TCU (they'll probably lose) It's nice to hear stake conference went well. It's good everyone is doing ok. Time to pack the dusty bags and get ready for Craiova. I love y'all. have a good week. I hope I have a good one too... Bye! Love, Elder Lee.